DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Here in Vermont, we take it as a given that the weather can be extreme. But after a June that saw Seattle-like weather, with only a handful of rain-free days and precipitation that was double the norm, I'm beginning to doubt it's an aberration.

Last summer, we had a similar six-week stretch with so much
rain that it almost wiped out the tomatoes and peppers in the
gardens. We've seen more torrential downpours and flash flooding in
recent years too.

This is not normal Vermont weather. And yes, climate change
is to blame.

A White House study released last month found that climate
change has already caused "visible impacts" in the United States and
that greenhouse-gas emissions are "primarily" responsible for global
warming.

"The projected rapid rate and large amount of climate change
over this century will challenge the ability of society and natural
systems to adapt," the report said.

The United States is the biggest per capita emitter of the
climate-warming gas carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas emissions are
rising, according to the White House study. Since 1970, average
annual temperatures have risen by 2 degrees in the Northeast, and
might rise more rapidly - between 4 and 11 degrees - before 2100 if
global emissions are not cut.

If temperatures continue to rise, New England could face
warmer winters and the possible end of some of our most famous
activities - maple sugaring, skiing, snowmobiling and ice fishing.
The prime area for maple production could shift northward into
Quebec, and New England's winter tourism industry would be devastated.

If nothing is done, it won't be long before we Vermonters are
living in a very different state. One with hotter summers with more
90 degree days. Heavier rainstorms with more flash flooding and the
crop and property damage that goes with it. Warmer winters with more
sleet and freezing rain and less snow. The bright colors of autumn's
foliage season gone as maple trees die from the stress of pollution,
insects and warmer temperatures.

"It's not too late to act," said Jane Lubchenco, the
administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,
one of the 13 federal agencies involved in preparing the climate
report. "Human-induced climate change is a reality, not only in
remote polar regions (and) in small tropical islands, but every place
around the country - in our own backyards."

But unfortunately, Congress is still dawdling on climate
change. The American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES), which
narrowly passed the U.S. House last week, was supposedly designed to
address climate change issues and boost the use of renewable,
alternative sources of energy.

Don't believe it. This bill was largely written by corporate
lobbyists and, as you might expect, it is relatively toothless.

Start with the goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions
such as carbon dioxide. It calls for an 80 percent cut by 2050, which
sounds good, but the baseline is 2005, rather than 1990 as is called
for in other nations' proposals. Does this make a difference? It
certainly does, especially since carbon dioxide emissions from fossil
fuels rose from 5.8-billion tons to 7-billion tons between 1990 and
2005.

The biofuels industry exacted a promise that the federal
government will not investigate environmental impacts. The farm
industry got 2 billion tons of carbon offsets for the residue left in
fields after corn or other crops are harvested. Big coal got a
concession to keep the federal Environmental Protection Agency
regulating coal-burning power stations by modifying the federal Clean
Air Act. The nuclear industry got loan guarantees for new reactors.

Perhaps the biggest compromise by the House involved the near
total elimination of a plan by the Obama Administration to sell
pollution permits and raise more than $600 billion over a decade.
Instead, about 85 percent of the permits will be given away rather
than sold. In other words, industry can continue to pollute a public
resource - our planet's atmosphere - without public compensation.

The most conclusive sign that ACES is a sham is that numerous
environmental groups - including Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace,
and the Sierra Club - actively opposed it. Even worse, the bill is
certain to be watered down further when the Senate gets its hands on
it.

Despite the best intentions of those in Congress who
recognize the environmental catastrophe looming for our planet,
apparently the best we can hope for to address climate change is a
hopelessly compromised bill that will do little to address the
problem. How little? ACES will allow atmospheric carbon to increase
to more than 450 parts per million, far more than the 350 parts per
million level that leading scientists say must be reached, and soon,
to combat the climate crisis.

Granted, ACES may seem like a victory, considering how hard
the Bush Administration and the Republican Party tried to undermine
efforts to address climate change for most of this decade. But the
world's most powerful and innovative nation can do a lot better than
this.

AR Correspondent Randolph T. Holhut has been a journalist in New England for nearly 30 years. He edited "The George Seldes Reader" (Barricade Books). He can be reached at randyholhut@yahoo.com. For extra added thrills, read his ongoing daily blog on The Harvard Classics.